vice. In morality his principles were without a taint and his practice 
through life in conscientious conformity with them. In religion he 
was a firm and steadfast believer in the great doctrines of the gospel, 
though not a public professor. His principles were those of true ra- 
tional Calvanism, unswayed by vindictive zeal or hysterical weakness. 
You observed in your letter that you never saw Mr. Slosson. He 
was a small man, not much, if any, under medium height, but of slen- 
der frame and countenance. Though not dark complexioned his coun- 
tenance was rather dusky, his skin not clear, his features though far 
from handsome bespoke intelligence and were therefore not disagree- 
able. His general appearance was more like that of the late p Leman 
Church than any other member of the Bar I can think of, though he 
was somewhat larger and more erect. 



SAMUEL W. SOUTHMAYD. 

In the life, conduct and character of Samuel W. Southmayd there 
were some peculiarities, such as render it a matter of difficulty to des- 
cribe him in such a manner, as to make them intelligible to one who 
did not personally know him. 

I never saw, or heard of him until I became a member of the law 
school in the fall of the year 1793, of which he had then been a mem- 
ber about one year, I believe, and of which he continued a constant 
attendant during the eighteen months which I spent there. He was ad- 
mitted to the Bar the nest term after I was, to wit : September Term, 
1795, and passed as good an examination as I ever heard there, or 
elsewhere, he having been for the full period of three years under 
Judge Reeve's tuition. He was a native of Watertown, where he 
settled in practice, and where he spent his life. Like Mr. Slosson, he 
had an excellent common school education. Beyond that, his acquire- 
ments did not extend far in an academic course — enough, however, I 



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The following sketches were written partly at the request of Hon. Chas. F 
Sedgwick of Sharon, and partly for the Litchfield Enquirer. 

The first seven were not written with any idea of publicity, until their appear- 
ance in the Enquirer, and they are all now re-published in this form, in compliance 
with an often expresssed request by many members of the Litchfield Bar that they 
might be had in some compact and convenient volume for future preservation and 
reference. 

That they present to all interested in the early history of Litchfield County, 
able and impartial biographies of many of the most prominent men who have figur- 
ed at her Bar, and that they will be received as a most valuable contribu- 
tion in this respect, coming from a gentleman who was acquainted personally with 
those of whom he writes, — and so long and highly esteemed himself as an able, 
candid, upright lawyer and judge,— the Publisher is well assured. And in the nam© 
of every reader of this series of papers he cannot but thus publicly express his con- 
gratulation and hearty acknowledgements to Judge Boardman for this collection 
of sketches, in every respect worthy of himself, and of the place they will fill here- 
after in the confidence and esteem of the public. 

Litchfield, September 1st, I860. 



SKETCHES. 



PATRIDGE THATCHER. 

Patridge Thatcher was the first man who practiced the 
legal profession in New Milford. He was not educated to the pro- 
fession, but took up the trade, because there were none of the craft 
hereabout, when this county was organized, which was after he came 
to middle age. He was a native, I have been told, of Lebanon in this 
state, and came to New Milford, I know not how long ago. He was 
however, a married man at the time. He had no children ; but a 
large number of negroes, whom he treated with kindness enough to 
put to shame the reproaches of all the abolitionists in New England. 
He was a man of strong mind, of rigid morality, and religious to the 
letter according to the strictest sect of orthodox episcopacy. He 
adored Charles I. as a martyr and he hated Oliver Cromwell worse 
than he did the evil one. Loyalty, unconditional loyalty, was the 
prime element of his political creed. Of course, his name was not 
found in any list of the wicked Whigs of the Revolution, and had he 
lived in these days, he would most thoroughly have eschewed democ- 
racy and abolitionism. On the breaking out of the Revolutionary 
war, his loyalty necessarily silenced his voice in court, and he died 
soon after its conclusion. Lawyer Thatcher, as he was always called, 
was undoubtedly, a very odd, a very honest and a very good man. I 
wish there were many such men now, both on account of the good 
example they would set, and the harmless amusement they would afford. 



li SKI rCHBS OF THE LITCHFIELD BA.B 

D A X I BL EVERITT. 

Daniei EvERHTwas a native of Bethlem and settled in New 
Milford as a lawyer, some time during the early part of the Revolu- 
tionary war, probably as early as '76 or '77, possibly earlier, as from 
a record I have access to I see he was married to a daughter of the 
Rev. Nathaniel Taylor on the first of January, 1778. and I remember 
that he lived here some Linn- before that event. He had not a colle- 
giate education, but was a man of good education and received an 
honorary degree. He read law with Judge Adams of Litchfield, and 
T remember to have heard him say. that he occasionally officiated in 
Mr. Adams' place as state's attorney, when he, (Adams) was absent 
in Congress, which he often was, during the war of the Revolution. 
Mr. Everitt was a man of much wit, boundless extravagance of ex- 
pression, quick conception, and in command of language and fluency 
of utterance, unsurpassed, but not a man of much, depth of mind nor 
had he much legal learning : his library extending little beyond 
Blackstone and Jacobs' Law Dictionary. He had, I believe, a very 
good run of practice, when the Court really opened to do civil business, 
after the conclusion of the war. His success in this respect was, how- 
ever, of rather short duration ; a number of younger lawyers having 
about that time commenced practice here, and other circumstances 
conspired to carry business away from him, and he never recovered 
it. While studying law I heard him argue a case or two, keeping 
the Court house in a roar by his wit and sarcasm, but by the time I 
was admitted, viz. in '95, he had about given up attending Courts at 
Litchfield, though he was not fifty years of age — and indeed he was, I 
think, but fifty-seven when he died in 1805. I met him, however, a 
few times, before Arbitrators and Justices, and had enough to do to 
parry his home thrusts of good natnred wit. Before him I often went, 
as he tried almost all the Justice cases, which he always did with en- 
tire integrity and usually came to a correct conclusion. He represent- 
ed this town. I think three times in the general assembly, and as a 
member of the convention which ratified the Constitution of the 
United States. He was a man of strict honesty, entire moral recti- 
tude of conduct, and a professor of religion. He was, however, much 
given to sociality, and to that conviviality which some time borders 
on a kindred indulgence. Mr. Everitt succeeded the late Col. Samuel 



TAPPING REEVE. 



Canfieldas Judge of Probate in this district in 1790. a,ud held that 
office till his death at Ibe time above mentioned. 



TAPPING REEVE. 

I saw much of Judge Reeve's practice at the bar for nearly 
five years, during which time he was engaged in almost every case of 
importance tried in the Superior Court at Litchfield, and never failed 
to argue every one in which he was engaged, if argued at all. In the 
County Court, after 1 became acquainted with him, he did not prac- 
tice. His school had become numerous, and he gave up his practice 
in that Court because (I suppose,) it too much interrupted his course 
of daily lectures, and knowing as he did that he should have a part 
in every cause expected to be tried in the Superior Court. And, by 
the way, trials were then managed and got through with in a reason- 
able time, and not suffered to be dragged out to the abominaole and 
shameful length which they now are, to the disgrace of the Profession 
for indulging in it, and of the Courts for permitting it. 

I joined Judge Reeve's school in the fall of 17 l J3, and he was not 
placed on the bench till the spring of 1796, so that 1 saw him at the 
Bar during nine sessions of the Superior Court, and never failed to 
listen to him, it 1 could avoid it, with unqualified love and admiration 
through every speech he made, to its conclusion, i say with love, for 
no instructor was ever more generally beloved by his pupils, and in- 
deed entirely so except it was by those whose love would have beeu 
a reproach to the object of it. As a reasoner, he had no superior 
within the compass of my observation of forensic performances* 1 
mean true, forcible and honest reasoning. In sophistry, he was too 
honest to indulge, and too discerning to suffer it to escape detection m 
the argument of an adversary. 

As a speaker he was usually exceedingly ardent, and the ardor 
he displayed appeared to be prompted by a conviction of the justice 
of the cause he was advoaating. His ideas seemed often, and indeed, 
usually, to flow in upon him faster than he could give utterance to 
them, and sometimes seemed to force him to leave a sentence untinish- 



5 SKETCHES Of THE LITCHFIELD BAR. 

cd to begin another, — and in his huddle of ideas, if I may so express 
it he was careless of grammatical accuracy, and though a thorough 
scholar, often made bad grammar in public speaking. Careless as 
he was of his diction and thoughtless as he was of ornament in ordi- 
nary cases, yet some elegant expressions and fine sentences would 
seem, as if by accident, to escape him in almost every speech. But in 
such cases as afforded the proper held for the display ol eloquence, 
such as actions of slander, malicious prosecutions, etc., and in that 
part of such cases as usually prompt to exertions of the kind, his hur- 
ried enunciation and grammatical inaccuracies, all forsook him, and 
then he never failed to electrify and aetonish his audience. Many oi 
these used to be recited to me by those who had often heard him and 
it fell to my lot to witness one such occasion, in an action for mali- 
cious prosecution, in closing the argument, on entering upon the sub- 
ject of damages, he burst forth into such a strain of dignified and 
soul-thrilling eloquence, as neither before nor since, has ever met my 
ear. The first sentence he uttered thrilled through every nerve of my 
entire iraine to the very ends of my fingers, and every succeeding 
sentence seemed to increase in overwhelming effect. I was perfectly 
entranced during its delivery, and for an hour afterwards I trembled 
so that I could not speak plain. His manner was as much changed 
as his language, and to me he looked a foot taller than before. The 
next day I went to him and asked him to commit to writing the con- 
cluding part of his speech, to which request he said in the simplicity 
of his nature, " Why, if I should do that, perhaps I should make it 
better than it really was, and that would not be fair." We told him 
(Mr. Bacon was with me,) there was no danger of that, for we knew 
it could not be bettered. Well, he said he would try, but he did not 
know whether he could recall it to memory, for there was not a word 
of it written before hand. A day or two after he saw me in Court, 
behind his seat, and beckoned me to him and said he had tried to 
comply with my request, but it was so gone from him that he could 
make nothing of it. 

I believe I have said enough in regard to Judge Reeve as an 
advocate, and that is the extent of your enquiry. As a Judge, you 
are acquainted with his reputation, historically, though you probably 
never saw him on the bench, as he left it nearly thirty-nine years ago, 



TAPPING REEVE. 9 

to wit, in May, 1816, to the regret of all admirers of legal learning 
and lovers of impartial justice. 

As I loved and admired Judge Reeve while living, and mourned 
him when dead, I love to think and talk of him now that I have at- 
tained to a greater age than he did, though he reached some eighty- 
four years, and I feel tempted to obtrude upon you some such leading 
incidents of his life as I am in memory possessed of, and which can- 
not be much longer retained. 

Judge Reeve was the son of a Presbyterian clergyman and was 
born on the south side of Long Island. He was educated at Prince- 
ton College, where he graduated in 1763 at seventeen years of age 
as I have heard him say. He was immediately appointed tutor of 
the grammar school connected with the college, and in that station 
and as a tutor in the college itself, he remained seven years. He 
then came to Connecticut to study law, which he prosecuted in the 
.office of Judge Root, then a practicing lawyer in Hartford, and as 
soon as he was admitted to the bar he settled in the practice at Litch- 
field. This I suppose to have been in 1772. He had previously 
married Sally Burr, the eldest child and only daughter of President 
Burr of Princeton College, and the sister of the celebrated Aaron 
Burr, who was a pupil of Judge Reeve in the grammar school. The 
Revolutionary war having commenced within a short time after he 
came to the bar, there was but little civil business done in the Courts 
until its conclusion, or nearly so. He therefore early betook himself 
to giving instruction to young gentlemen who looked forward to the 
legal profession for support and advancement in life, when the cir- 
cumstances of the country would allow of its exercise. This employ- 
ment tended greatly to systematize and improve what stock of legal 
science he already had acquired, and aided by his uncommonly fine 
talents and native eloquence early secured to him, the deserved rep- 
utation of an aide lawyer. About the close, I believe, of the Revolu- 
tionary war, either through an acquaintance with the late Judge 
Sedgwick or otherwise he was introduced to some practice in Berk- 
shire County, and in the celebrated aim, con. case of Winchell vs. 
Goodrich, gave such a display of his oratorical powers as astonished 
the natives, and that, together with the conspicuous part he took with 
Judge Sedgwick in the great case of General Ashley's negroes, which 
put an end forever to slavery in Massachusetts, he established a rep- 



10 SKETCHES OF THE LITCHFIELD BAR. 

utation which ensured him business there as long as Ills avocations at 
home allowed him to attend to it. This however, I believe, \va,- not 
very long. The delicate health of his wife, and Iris great professional 
business at home induced him to forego any business which called him 
abroad, and to utterly decline any sort of public appointment what- 
ever, during her life. She died, to the deep grief of as devoted a 
husband as ever lived, a few months before it became necessary to fill 
two vacancies in the Superior Court, occasioned by the death of Chief 
Justice Adams and the final extinction of mental capacity in Judge 
Huntington— and to one of those vacancies Judge Reeve was 
appointed. 

I must draw this long letter to a close. It is enough to say, 
that no act of Judge Reeve's life ever, in the least degree, lessened 
the admiration and respect entertained for his capacity, integrity and 
learning, or ever diminished the esteem and affection cherished for the 
spotless purity of his moral deportment through a long life, nor the 
reverence extorted from all for the deep religious impression which 
adorned his old age and perfected his character. He was, 1 presume, 
in youth extremely handsome. 



JOHN ALLEN. 

John Allen was born in Great Barring-ton, Mass., some- 
time, I believe, in 1762, of respectable parents, though not distinguish- 
ed in society, as I remember to have heard him say that he was the 
son of a joiner. There were but two children in the family, a son and 
a daughter, both much distinguished in life for many good qualities, 
and especially for dignity of manner and deportment, but the winning 
and amiable accomplishments all fell to the lot of the female, gaining 
her many admirers and among others, an husband worthy of her, in 
that excellent man, Elizur Goodrich of New Haven. Their father 
died during the minority of both the children. Mr. Allen, having an 
excellent common school education, though not a classic education, 
became a teacher, and being impelled by a spirit of adventure, some- 
what romantic as he was thought in those days, went suddenly, and 



JOHN ALLEN. 11 

without the knowledge of his friends, and while yet a minor, to Ger- 
mantown near Philadelphia, where he obtained a place as instructor 
of the younger classes of an academic establishment of some note at 
the time. How long he remained in the above mentioned establish- 
ment I do not know, but soon after leaving that place, and I believe 
almost immediately, he came to New Milford, and taught a school for 
some six months, and from here went immediately into Mr. Reeve's 
law school, and after the accustomed period of study was admitted 
to the bar, and immediately settled in practice in Litchfield, where 
he spent his life. He confined himself almost entirely to the practice 
of Litchfield County, though occasionally when called, in consequence 
of the eminence to which he soon attained in the profession, he prac- 
ticed in other counties, in some cases of importance, and especially in 
the Federal Circuit Court, in which, for a few years after the forma- 
tion of the present Constitution of the United States, some considera- 
ble business was done. Mr. Allen, however never went abroad in 
quest of business, thinking that the very great share of Attorney bu- 
siness which he acquired in being always found in his office, equal, 
at least in point of profit, to what counsellor business he might obtain 
by attending Courts in other counties, considering that all the coun- 
sellor business flowing from the attorney business which he did, he 
was sure to be engaged in. From the time I entered the law school 
in the fall of 1793. I occupied a room in his office, and had free access 
to his ample library and boarded at the same house with him. Du- 
ring all that time, and all the remaining years of his prosperous 
practice, which indeed lasted till the apparent commencement of his 
rapid decline, soon followed by death, he was engaged in almost every 
case of any importance in the Superior and County Court. He was 
certainly, a very successful and powerful advocate, equally with the 
Jury as with the Court, a thoroughly read lawyer, equal in point of 
legal science to any one at our bar during the fore part of the time I 
am speaking of, except Tapping Reeve, who had no rival, and in the 
latter part of the period, James Gould, of whom I need say nothing 
as you knew him in his meridian light. Mr. Allen always made dili- 
gent and faithful preparation of all cases committed to his care, and 
made himself fully acquainted with every point of law and every ac- 
cessible point of evidence which could arise in the case, and was 
therefore usually successful when the case deserved success. 



12 SKETCHES OF THE Ll'lVHFJELD UAH.- 

If I knew that you ever saw Mr. Allen, I would omit any attempt 
to describe his personal appearance, for I am sure any one who ever 
saw his colossal form and imposing visage, Would never need to have 
him described in order to recall his appearance. He was six feet four 
or five inches high, very erect and with an attitude and walk well 
calculated to set off his Ml stature, and though quite lean, weighed 
full 230 pounds. His countenance was strongly marked and truly for- 
midable, his eyes and eye brows dark, his hair dark, what little he 
had for he was quite bald, far back, even before middle age, and in- 
deed his whole appearance was calculated to inspire dread, rather 
than affection. His manners and conversation were, however, such as 
to inspire confidence and respect, though little calculated to invite 
familiarity, except with his intimates, of whom he had a few, and those, 
knowing the generous and hearty frcindship of which he was capable, 
were usually, much attached to him aud ready to overlook all his harsh 
sallies, imputing them to tlie " rough humor which his mother gave 
him.'' His feelings were not refined, but ardent, generous and hearty. 
His friendships were strong and his aversions equally so— and as I 
used to say of him, speaking to others, " his feelings were all of the 
great sort." He neither enjoyed nor suffered any thing from many 
of those little incidents which so often affect, either pleasingly or pain- 
fully, minds of a more refined texture. As he had no taste tor such 
things, nor, as it would seem, any faculty of perceiving, so he knew 
no language appropriate to their description, but in respect to those 
things and principles which he thought worthy of his regard, he lack- 
ed no power of language to make himself fully and forcibly understood. 
For neutral ground, either in morals or politics, he had no taste, and 
but little less than absolute abhorrence. As a specimen of his feelings 
and language, better than I can describe, I will give you the laconic 
answer to an enquiry of him, Why he took the Aurora the leading dem- 
ocratic paper in the county, then under the guidance of that arch 
democrat, Duane ; he replied it was because he wanted to know what 
tlmj were about in t/ie infernal regions. And after giving this specimen I 
need make no further attempt to give you an idea of his humor, man- 
ners and language. 

After Mr. Allen was married, which was not till he was towards 
forty years old, and went to house keeping, I boarded at his house at 
his express solicitation for many years while attending Court ; though 



BARZILLA1 &Lb6sh5l 1 ';> 

he took no other one, nor ever named to me any price, nor would lie 
count the money I handed to him when leaving for home, seeming to 
receive it only because I refused to stay on any other terms. I there 
fore saw much of him in his family, where his conduct was always 
dignified, proper and kind. He was proud, very proud, and justly so, 
of his wife, who was a woman of much personal beauty, polished man- 
ners, and great and even singular discretion, and for whom he enter- 
tained, I believe, an ardent affection. 

Before his marriage and at the age of thirty-five Mr. Allen was 
elected a member of the fifth Congress, where he distinguished him- 
self at a time when Connecticut was never more ably represented in 
the House of Representatives, and would undoubtedly have been cho- 
Ssen for as long a period as he would have desired to be a member of 
that body, but he declined a further election. He was elected an 
Assistant in 1800, and was re-elected for the five succeeding years, 
and as such was one of the Judges of the Supreme Court of Errors. 
For several years, previous to his election to Congress, he had repre- 
sented the town of Litchfield in the General Assembly. His wife was 
a grand daughter of the first Governor Griswold. His only son, the 
Hon. John Wm. Allen of Cleveland, Ohio, has been a member of Con- 
gress from that State and is now a very distinguished man there: His 
only surviving daughter resides also in Cleaveland, and is the' wife of 
her brother's immediate successor in Congress: Mrs. Allen, after a 
rather brief widowhood, accepted the band of a Mr. Perkins of Ox- 
ford in the State of New York, a man of respectability and wealth: 



BARZILLAI SLOSSON. 

The request, which is the subject of yours of the 4th inst., is too 
alluring in its nature to be long unattended to. So nearly am I alone 
in the world that an invitation to hold converse about those of my 
age and standing in life, and who have now slumbered in the grave 
for more than forty years, and especially those who were so much 
beloved and esteemed as were those of whom you solicit my attention, 
is quite irresistible. 



\4 SKETCHES OP TtiE LITGHFIELD BAR. 

In speaking of Mr. Slosson, I must first observe that 1 had form- 
ed a tolerably correct notion of him before I ever saw him. When I 
was a boy his father was often at my father's house, intimately ac- 
quainted there, and I believe, scarcely ever passed that way without 
balling and holding a pretty long chat, for he was never in a hurry, 
and his peculiar turn of mind, abundance of common sense, and great, 
fund of wit, joined to his singularly slow, emphatic and sententious 
mode of talking, was such as to secure the attention of any one, and 
especiollv a boyi He used, occasionally to speak of his children, and 
especiallv of his oldest son Barzillai, of whom he was manifestly very 
proud, representing him to be always at the head of the school when 
small, and afterwards used to speak with high gratification of his in- 
dustry and tact at acquiring the higher branches of knowledge with- 
out the aid of an instructor, and more particularly the knowledge of 
the dead languages, of Avhich he knew nothing himself. And this 
account given by the old gentleman, from intimate intercourse and 
frequent conversation with his son, when I afterwards became acquaint" 
ed with him, I found was by no means exaggerated. And to his ex- 
cellent and accurate common school education, lie owed much, very 
much of his character for exact accuracy and correctness in all that 
he said and did through life. He was about the best reader I ever 
heard, wrote a fair, handsome and legible hand, and in the unfailing 
correctness of his orthography and use of terms, no lexicographer ex- 
Celled him, and in everything pertaining to mere English, home and 
common school education, no one appeared to be a more thorough pro- 
ficiedt. And in Greek and Latin I never' saw his superior, except old 
President Stiles, nor with that exception perhaps, his equal, unless it 
was old Parson Farrand of Canaan, and in the other branches of col- 
legiate education he was, to say the least, above mediocraty. As he 
entered college not until the senior year, and-, I believe, did not even 
attend during the whole of that year, he could not, of course, expect 
to shine and did not shine in the college honors depending upon the 
faculty, but he availed himself of the right to become a candidate for 
the honors of Dean Scholar, and obtained the first premium for excel- 
lence in Greek and Latin, in a class of unusually high reputation. 
This, I suppose, he did merely, out of a laudable pride, for he did not 
avail himself of the pecuniary reward which would have required him 
to reside in New Haven ; for he went, immediately after his gradua- 



LHIAZ1LLAI SLOS: ON. 15 

tion with one- of Lis classmates (Mr. afterwards the Rev. Dr. Smith,) 
to reside in Sharon, as one of the instructors in the Sharon Academy, 
then in full and successful operation. He soon after became a student 
at law, under Gov. Smith's instruction, and the first County Court 
which sat after his two year's clerkship had expired, being in Fairfield 
County, he went there for examination and admission to the Bar. 
This was I believe at the November Term, 1793. It was not until he 
began to attend Court at Litchfield, and while I was in the law school 
there, that I first became personally acquainted with Mr. Slosson 
though I had barely seen him once or twice before. After my admis- 
sion to the Bar, being located in adjoining towns, we often met each 
other before Justices, and consequently before the upper courts. From 
our frequent meetings and intercourse at Litchfield and elsewhere, I 
became greatly attatched to him, and finally, for a number of years he 
and I, with Southmayd for our constant companion, always occupied 
the same room at Catlin's Hotel during every court until his death, 
and there was the last time I ever saw him in life. Soon afyer the 
Court adjourned, hearing of his rapid decline. I sat out to visit him, 
and on the way, heard that he had died the night before. I however 
went on and stayed with the family until 1 assisted in burying him. 
This was in January, 1813, and in that grave I felt that 1 had buried 
a sincere, and I am sure, a much loved friend ; on whose character 
and conduct in life I could reflect with melancholy satisfaction, unmar- 
red by a single reproachful recollection or one which I could wish to 
have forgotten. 

Mr. Slosson had been out of health for a very considerable time, 
and fears were apprehended on his account, in which he fully and 
rationally participated. So gradual, however, was the operatioruof 
his disorder, that he continued his attention to business until some 
three or four weeks before his death. He attended court at Litch- 
field, the first and I think the second week of the December Term, the 
month before his decease. 

Mr. Slosson's great fondness for ancient literature, rendered him 
scarcely just in his comparative estimate of that with modern im- 
provements. As a lawyer he was highly respectable in theory and 
remarkably accurate in practice ; as a pleader, I do not remember 
that he ever had occasion to ask for an amendment, or to alter a tittle 
of what he had written. As an advocate he was clear, deliberate, 



\{\ SKETCHES OP TUB LITQHPIBLD BAR, 

methodical and logical in his deductions. He spoke in much of the 
peculiarly emphatic manner of his father, above mentioned, though 
not with his unusual slowness. He was always cool and self-possessed 
rarely warming into any high degree of animation, or aiming at effect 
to appear eloquent, but he never failed to secure a respectful and 
satisfied attention. Though not one of the most leading advocates of 
which there are always some three or fqur at any Bar, he might, at 
least be estimated an equal to any of the second class of the Litchfield 
Bar which was then, certainly, a highly respectable one. 

Though not an aspirant after public preferment, and. from his 
habitually mobest and retiring habits, not calculated to push his way 
when opportunities offered, he wag yet, at the time of his decease, in 
a fair way of promotion. He was early and often elected to the leg- 
islature from his native town, and indeed their usual representative 
until the October session, 1812, when he was elected Clerk, which 
in those days was a sure stepping stone to future advancement, and 
havino- myself been a witness of the manner in which he performed 
the duties of that office, for which no man was better qualified, 1 am 
sure he established a reputation, which, had Providence permitted, 
promised a solid and lasting existence. 

Mr. Slosson's political opinions were of the genuine Washingto- 
nian, political school. None of your heady, rash, and merely parti- 
zan notions found favor with him. He was a constant and honest 
adherent to the political views then prevalent in this State. He 
left a widow and two sons — the oldest John William, has been and I 
believe now is a merchant in Kent. The second son, Nathaniel, a 
very promising boy, was, I believe soon after his father's death, taken 
under the care of his uncle, William Slosson, a distinguished lawyer 
of New York, and was by him educated at Union College and for 
the Bar, and died soon after his admission. 

The foregoing sketch of the leading incidents in Mr. Slosson's 
life, may be a sufficient indication from which to deduce his true 
character, but I must indulge myself in adding, that I never knew 
or heard of a single act of his life, either in youth or mature years, 
that left even a shade upon his reputation. Cool and deliberate in 
his temperament, never hurried away by enthusiasm, for enthusiasm 
never. manifested itself in his nature, except in his passion for ancient 
literature, he was sure to think and act with propriety. He was 



BAMtJEL w. houthmayd. 17 

nevertheless warm and faithful in his attachments, but not so far as to 
warp his conscientious regard for integrity. He was perfectly just 
and generous in his intercourse with the world, honest in his predi- 
lections and uncompromising in his love of virtue and detestation of 
vice. In morality his principles were without a taint and his practice 
through life in conscientious conformity with them. In religion he 
was a firm and steadfast believer in the great doctrines of the gospel, 
though not a public professor. His principles were those of true ra- 
tional Calvanism, unswayed by vindictive zeal or hysterical weakness. 
You observed in your letter that you never saw Mr. Slosson. He 
was a small man, not much, if any, under medium height, but of slen- 
der frame and countenance. Though not dark complexioned his coun- 
tenance was rather dusky, his skin not clear, his features though far 
from handsome bespoke intelligence and were therefore not disagree- 
able. His general appearance was more like that of the late, Leman 
Church than any other member of the Bar I can think of, though he 
was somewhat larger and more erect. 



SAMUEL W. SOUTHMAYD. 

In the life, conduct and character of Samuel W. Southuiayd there 
were some peculiarities, such as render it a matter of difficulty to des- 
cribe him in such a manner, as to make them intelligible to one who 
did not personally know him. 

I never saw, or heard of him until I became a member of the law 
school in the fall of the year 1793, of which he had then been a mem- 
ber about one year, I believe, and of which he continued a constant 
attendant during the eighteen months which I spent there. He was ad : 
mitted to the Bar the next term after I was, to wit : September Term, 
1795, and passed as good an examination as I ever heard there, or 
elsewhere, he having been for the full period of three years under 
^udge Reeve's tuition. He was a native of Watertown, where he 
settled in practice, and where he spent his life. Like Mr. Slosson, he 
had an excellent common school education. Beyond that, his acquire- 
ments did not extend far in an academic course — enough, however, I 



18 SKETCHES OP THE LITCHFIELD BAR. 

believe, to enable him to understand the homely law- latin used in our 
books. Few have entered upon the practice of law, with a better 
store of legal learning than Mr. Soutiimayd, but the place in which 
he settled was not calculated from its location and the habits of the 
people, by no means litiguous, to furnish much practice, and he was 
too honest to promote litigation ; and furthermore, he had no legal 
adversary there except an old gentlemen who never had any more 
legal learning than was necessary for a Church Warden, and whose 
ignorance made him the victim of Southmayd's merry witchery and 
innocent cunning, of both of which he had a superabundance, though 
he never indulged in malicious, or even very serious mischief, and in- 
deed in none except such as would do to relate for the purpose of 
making fun in merry company. Anecdotes of that description used 
to be related in great numbers. As a pleader, Mr. Soutiimayd was 
always sure to have all in his drafts which was requisite and perti- 
nent to the object in view, and in all his declarations, affording room 
for coloring circumstances to be inserted, there was pretty su^e to be 
found, slyly. slipped in, some ingenious slang whang, or Southmaydism, 
as we used to call it. He was not ambitious of arguing cases in 
Court, but when he did, he always displayed much ingenuity, and at- 
tracted respectful attention from the audience as well as from the 
triers. And before arbitrators, referees and committees a more for- 
midable opponent could hardly be found. And although his practice 
was not large, and as was observed of Mr. Slosson he was not among 
the leading practitioners at the Litchfield Bar, he was certainly a 
very respectable lawyer, upon a par with the foremost of the second 
class, and much beloved and respected by all whose good opinions 
are desirable. 

As was observed in the outset, there were peculiarities in Mr. 
Southmayd's private character and deportment, which it is difficult to 
describe or reconcile. Though of a benevolent disposition and full of 
good nature and kind feelings, there was yet in him a vein of adventure 
after intellectual amusement, which, from its very nature, could not 
be- gratified but at the expense .of others, and often to such an extent 
as to render Ihem ridiculous in the view of third persons to whom 
the result pf the adventure was related. I have many times joined 
most heartily in the laugh at the relation of the result of many such 
seemingly innocen,t pieces of roguery, though I could not help con- 



SAMUEL \V. SOUTHMAYD. 19 

Ueinning the mischief, while participating in its fruits. In all such 
indulgences, Southmayd never entertained the least malice, for his 
heart was a stranger to it, but his intense love of fun, and enjoyment 
tof the ridiculous often impelled him to go beyond the line of honest 
propriety. I used often to reproach him with it, but my admonitions 
were not well calculated to take effect, when given at the close of a 
hearty laugh. 

From what I have been saying of Mr. Southmayd you would, I 
presume, be ready to conclude that he was one of the most cheerly 
and happy of men. But the case was directly the reverse, and during 
a considerable period of his life, and that too, the most valuable part 
of it, he was a very unhappy man, indeed, and I have no doubt he had 
recourse to much of the indulgence of that peculiar propensity I have 
attempted to describe for the purpose of dispelling a mental malady 
which for a long time oppressed and preyed upon his heart. He was 
for many years the victim of the strongest species of hypochondria 
that ever mortal man was. It never showed itself in long fits of set- 
tled melancholy or monomania; but in sudden fits and starts. After 
hours of cheerful conversation, and while in entire health, he would 
suddenly complain of great distress, and exhibit unmistakable evidence 
of great terror and apprehensions of immediate dissolution. One very 
extraordinary instance I will relate. He and I had been alone many 
hours, conversing and reading together, and he, not in the least com- 
plaining, when he at once sprung from his seat, and with a scream as 
would have alarmed me, had it been any other person, and pressing 
both hands upon his breast he exclaimed that he was going to die 
immediately. I stepped to him and gently and calmly said to him, 
" don't be alarmed, you are not going to die" — (for we never treated 
him as if we thought his distress imaginary,) and put my hand gently 
upon him to lead him to the bed, when he raised one hand from his 
"breast and thrusting his finger against the side of his head, declared, 
with another outcry that something was passing through his head. I 
persuaded him to lie down, telling him the feeling would pass off in a 
few minutes, but he continued to groan for some time. I, knowing 
what would cure him, took up and began to read to him one of Burke's 
finest essays which lay by me, and turning to a passage of extraordi- 
nary eloquence read it ; on which he sprung up on end in the bed, 
and exclaimed " was ever anything finer than that !" I continued on 



20 SKETCHES OP THS LITCHFIELD BAH. 

reading, and in the course of half an hour he was well and cheerful 
as ever. This was the most extraordinary instance I ever saw in him, 
but those in a degree like it were frequent. He always went to bed 
an hour or two before Slosson and I did, he saying that he never was 
able to get sleep until he had gone through a great deal of such feel- 
ings as he never would attempt to describe. 

Mr. Southmayd was greatly esteemed in his native town, by, 1 
believe, almost every one, both old and young. He was early in life 
sent to the legislature, and that often, and was so, I know, the last 
year of his life. He died of lung fever in March; 1813, about two 
months after the death of his friend Slosson. At the December Term, 
1812, the three who had so long occupied the same room in perfect 
harmony, were, for the last time there to other. At the February 
Term of th'o Supreme Court, Southmayd audi occupied it. but felt 
that we were in solitude, and in the next term it seemed to me, most 
emphatically, a solitude, and more like a family vault than like an 
abode for living men, and I believe I have never been into it since. 

Mr. Southmayd was undoubtedly an honest and honorable man, 
of uncommon pleasing manners and much beloved, and I never heard 
that he had an enemy. Indeed the amenity of his manners and the 
gentleness of his temper almost forbade it. 

The family to which Mr. Southmayd belonged was of the Con • 
gregational order, and two df his sisters married Congregational 
clergymen. He, however, joined himself to the Episcopal church of 
which he was a member after he settled in life, and of which, I be- 
lieve lie was a communicant, but am not sure. He died unmarried, 
and I 'believe in the 39th or 40th year of his age. 



JOHN COTTON SMITH. 

At your request, I now inform you, that the Hon. John Cotton 
Smith, only son of the Rev. Cotton Mather Smith ot Sharon, was born 
there on the 12th day of February, 1765. It is said that for the first 
six years of his life his instruction and training was almost wholly 
conducted by his excellent mother, and to her government and pre- 
cepts he is said to have attributed much of his extraordinary success 



JOHN OCTTOfl .villi. 21 



mus 



iti life. His common school education; as exhibited in afterlife, 
: . . e been of the most exactly accurate kind. Bis classical instruction 
preparatory to entering college, was commenced at home, and com, 
pleted under the tuition of the Rev. Mr. BrinSmadc of Washington. 
He entered Yale College in September, 1779', when between fourteen 
and fifteen years of age, and though young, maintained a high stand- 
ing in his class, as appeared by The share he had in the exercises of 
the commencement at his graduation, the appointees being less than 
one-fourth of the entire class. Immediately after his graduation in 
September, 1783, he entered as a law student in tlic office of the Hon. 
'John Canfield in his native town, and there continued until he could 
bo by law admitted to the Bar, which was in the March term, 1786, 
a month after coming to twenty-one years of age : and Mr. Canfield, 
his legal preceptor, having died a few months after his admission (o 
the Bar, a large portion of business for a long time habitually flowing 
for management to Mr. Canfield's office, he having for many years 
been one of the ablest lawyers of the County, Mr. Smith's commence- 
ment in business was thereby attended by fortunate circumstances, 
and he improved them with becoming industry, and from the very 
first found himself in a lucrative practice, which continued to increase 
until called into absorbing public business. He was first elected to the 
legislature in 1793 and frequently afterwards ; indeed, from 1796 to • 
October, 1800 he was constantly a member, and during the two ses- 
sions of 1800 was speaker of the house, and while occupying that sta- 
tion in the October session he was informed by the Governer that he 
was elected a member of Congress to fill a vacancy which had occur- 
red for the then approaching last session of the Sixth Congress, and 
also for the full term of the Seventh Congress ; soon after which in- 
formation, he resigned the chair in the house, and returned home to 
prepare for assuming his newly assigned duties. It so happened that 
the extra session to which he had been chosen was that, which, by 
law, was to be holden at the new City of Washington, whither he re- 
paired and served through that term, and the Seventh Congress ; was 
re-elected to the Eighth and again to the Ninth Congress, at the ex- 
piration of the Ninth Congress he declined any further elections to 
that honorable bod\ . During his congressional career he did not 
participate much in debate, but his fine talent at presiding was early 
discovered, and caused him frequently to be called to the chair when 



22 SKETCHES OF THE LITCHFIELD BAR. 

the House vras in committee of the whole, and he thus presided during 
some of the most memorable debates which distinguished those days. 
He was during all but the first session, a member of the committee of 
claims while in Congress, and during the Eighth and Ninth Congress 
at the head of that committee; though in the minority. In May, 1809, 
Mr. Smith was appointed a Judge of the Superior Court, which he 
resigned in May 1811 on being elected Lieutenant-Governor ; in May, 
1813 he was elected Governor, and re-elected to that office until 1818, 
when, a political revolution having taken place, he retired finally 
from public life. His administration of the gubernatorial office em- 
braced the greater part of the war of 1812 and 1815, and his duties 
in all respects were performed with dignity, propriety and grace. 

After his retirement to private life much of his time Avas devoted 
to religious studies, and his eminent christian and literary accomplish- 
ments being extensively known and appreciated he was selected as 
the first president of the Connecticut Bible Society on its establish- 
ment. In 1826 he was chosen president of the American Board of 
Commissioners for Foreign Missions, and in 1831 president of the 
American Bible Society. In 1815 he received the degree of LL. D. 
As old age pressed upon him his hearing became impaired; and he 
never would suffer himself to hold public stations when he cduld not 
perform all their 'duties with becoming grace, he resigned all his posts 
of honor, and on the 7 til day of December he died in the 81st year Of 
his age. 

In an eulogy delivered before the Connecticut Historical Society 
by the Rev. W. H. Andrews, then of Kent, soon after the decease of 
Mr. Smith, giving a concise but eloquent historical sketch of his life 
and character, stating that he was admitted to the Bar in Litchfield 
County, and observing that at the time there was no bar in the state 
which presented a more splendid array of legal forensic talents than 
this, proceeds to state the standing which he at maturity acquired, in 
the following words quoted, as he says, from the communication of a 
well informed competent judge, long acquainted with Mr. Smith at 
the bar : — "He was esteemed, and justly so, an accurate pleader, and 
a well read and learned lawyer, and though some of those alluded to 
exceeded him in force and popularity as an advocate, none of them 
surpassed, and in my judgement, none of them equalled him in grace 
of manner and elegance of diction and utterance." 



NATHANIEL SMITH. 23 

Early in life Gov. Smith married Miss Margaret Everson of 
Amenia, N. Y., a young lady of many accomplishments, who lived to 
old age. The issue of this marriage was only one child, William M. 
Smith, Esq., of Sharon, a gentleman much esteemed for his many vir- 
tues and eminent piety. A grandson bearing his name is now the 
Minister resident of the United States to the court of Bolivia, South 
America. 



NATHANIEL SMITH. 
[From Hollisters History of Connecticut.] 

" I received a line from my friend, General Sedgwick, stating 
that it was your desire that he would ask of me. in your behalf, tq 
furnish you with some facts in relation to the late Nathaniel Smith, 
and my views of his character, which might be of use to you in the pre- 1 
paration of the work you have in hand. 

" I am of course aware that this application is owing to the ac- 
cidental circumstance that I am the oldest, if not the only member of 
the profession now living, who had much personal acquaintance with' 
that teuly able and excellent man, or saw much of him in the exercise 
of his forensic or judicial talents. Judge Smith was indeed one of 
nature's nobles, and considering the limited range of his early educa- 
tion, he had few equals and perhaps no superior in the profession 
which he, chose, and which he eminently adorned. You are doubtless 
aware that Judge Smith had only such an education in childhood and 
youth, as the common schools of the country afforded at the time. It 
was such, however, as a boy of unusual capacity and industrious habits 
would acquire from such a source, and such as, under the guidance of 
uncommon discretion through life, rarely permitted its defects to be 
diseased. 

" When I first went to the Law School in Litchfield, which was 
in the fall of 1793. Mr. Smith though not over thirty years old, was 
in full practice, and engaged in almost every cause of any importance. 
Indeed, he was said to have established a high reputation for talents 
in the first cause he argued in the higher courts. It was upon a trial 



24 SKETCHES OF THE LITCHFIELD BAR. 

for manslaughter, which arose in his native town, and in which he ap- 
peared as junior counsel, and astonished the court, the bar, and all 
who heard him. Not long afterwards, in the celebrated case of Jed- 
ediah Strong and wife, before the General Assembly, (she having ap- 
plied for a divorce,) he greatly distinguished himself again, and thus 
became known throughout the state as a young lawyer of the first 
promise ; and the reputation thus early acquired was never suffered 
to falter, but on the other hand, steadily increased in strength until 
his elevation to the bench. 

" During my stay in Litchfield, and after my admission to the 
bar, I of course saw Mr. Smith, and heard him in almost all the im- 
portant cases there ; and as I was located in the south-west comer 
town in the county, adjoining Fairfield, I almost immediately obtain- 
ed some business which, though small, was such as during nearly all 
my professional life car.scd me to attend the courts in that county, 
where I found Mr. Smith as fully engaged and as highly esteemed as 
in his own county. In New Haven I also know he had a very con- 
siderable practice. 

" It is worthy also to be observed, in forming an estimate of Mr. 
Smith's professional talent and character, that there never at any period 
was an abler bar in Connecticut, than during his practice. In Litch- 
field county, were Judge Reeve, Judge Adams, General Tracy, John 
Allen, Judge Gould, N. B. Benedict, and others ; at the Fairfield 
county bar, were Pierpont Edwards, Judge Ingersoll, and Judge 
Daggett, constantly from New Haven, Judge Edmonds, S. B. Sher- 
wood, R. M. Sherman, Judge Chapman, and Governor Bissell ; and 
in New Haven, besides the three above named, were James Hillhouse, 
Judge Baldwin, and others. 

" As I suppose it not probable that you ever saw Judge Smith, 
as he ceased to attend courts in 1819, and died when you was very 
young, I will observe, what you have doubtless heard, that he was a 
large and fine appearing man, much of the same complexion of the 
Hon. Truman Smith, his nephew, with whom you are so well acquain- 
ted ; less tall than he, but of rather fuller habit. His face was not 
only the index of high capacity and solid judgment, but uncommonly 
handsome ; his hair was dark and thin, though not to baldness, 
except on the fore part of his head, and was very slightly sprinkled 
with gray. His fine, dark eyes, were remarkably pleasing and gentle 



NATHANIEL SMITH. 



in ordinary intercourse, but very variable, always kindling- when high- 
ly excited in debate, they became almost oppressive. His voice was 
excellent, being both powerful and harmonious, and never broke under 
any exertion of its capacity. His manner was very ardent and the 
seeming dictate of a strong conviction of the justice of his cause 5 and 
his gestures were the natural expression of such a conviction. Mr. 
Smith's style was pure and genuine Saxou, with no attempt at classic 
ornament or allusion. His train of reasoning was lucid and direct, 
and evincive of the fact that the whole of it was like a map spread 
out in his mind's eye from the beginning. His ingenuity was always 
felt and dreaded by his opponent. He spoke with much fluency, but 
with no undue rapidity ; he never hesitated for or haggled at a word, 
nor did he ever ever tire his audience with undue prolixity, or omit 
to do full justice to his case for fear of tiring them ; and indeed there 
was little danger of it. Though certainly a very fine speaker, he 
never achieved or aspired to those strains of almost superhuman elo- 
puence with which his old master Reeve, sometimes electrified and 
astonished his audience, and yet, in ordinary cases, he was the most 
correct speaker of the two — though Judge Reeve was, and he was not, 
a scholar. Mr. Smith, though quite unassuming, and often receding 
in common intercourse and conversation, was, when heated in argu- 
ment, it must be confessed, often overbearing to the adverse party, 
and, not only them, but to their counsel. Upon all other occasions, 
he appeared to be, and I believe was, a very kind hearted, agreeable 
and pleasant man. To me, he always so appeared, and I have been 
much in his company. 

" Mr. Smith came early into public life, and was frequently elect- 
ed to the General Assembly from Woodbury. In 1795, he was elected 
a member of the fourth Congress; and in 1797, he was chosen to the 
fifth Congress ; but declined further election. In May, 1799, he was 
made an assistant, and was re-elected for the five following years, 
when he resigned his seat at that board in consequence of the passage 
of the act in 1803, prohibiting the members of the then Supreme Court 
of Errors from practicing before that Court. He remained in full 
practice at the bar until October, 1806, when he was elected a Judge 
of the Superior Court, and continued to fill that office until May, 1819, 
.vlien the judiciary establishment of that year went into operation ; 
from which time he remained in private life until his death. 



26 SKET( HES OP THE LITCHFIELD BAE. 

'• Li every public station in which Mr. Smith was placed, he dis- 
tinguished himself. He did so in Congress, at a time when our rep- 
resentation was as able, perhaps, as it ever has been, and when the 
character of the house'to which he belonged was far higher than it 
now is. In the Superior Court he was certainly very greatly respect- 
ed and admired, as an able and perfectly upright judge. 

" In private life his name was t free from all reproach. A strictly 
honest and pure life, free from any of those little blemishes which 
often mar the fame of distinguished men, may, I think, be fairly claim- 
ed by his biographer to be his due. As a husband, a parent, a friend, 
a neighbor, a moralist and a christian, I believe few have left a more 
faultless name." 



M ES G OULD. 

In compliance, in part, with a request recently received from you, 

I now send you a brief and imperfect sketch of the literary ami pro- 
fessional character, standing and reputation of the Hon. James Gould, 
who for a very considerable period of time contributed much to the 
fame of the County and State for legal science, by his talents as an 
advocate and especially as an instructor and as a judge of the Supe- 
rior Court; with some account of his person and family. Mr. Gould, 
the son of Dr. William Gould, an eminent physician, was born at 
Branford in this State in the year 1770. The goodness of his com- 
mon school education is inferable from the perfect accuracy of it, 
which shoAved itself in all he did or said in after life. He graduated 
when a little over twenty-one, at Yale College, in September, 1791, 
with distinguished honor in a class distinguished for talents. 

The year next following his collegiate course he spent in Balti- 
more as a teacher. He then returned to New Haven and commenced 
the study of law with Judge Chauncey ; and in September of that 
year he was chosen a tutor in Yale College, in which office he contin- 
ued two years. He then joined the Law School of Mr. Reeve at 
Litchfield and was soon after admitted to the Bar. Immediately af- 
ter his admission to the Bar he opened an office for practice in that 
town, where he resided during the remainder of his life. 



JAMES GOULD; 

On his first appearance aa an advocate lie evinced such an ap j 
parent maturity of intellect, such a self-possession, such command of 
his thoughts and of the language appropriate to their expression, that 
he was marked out as a successful aspirant for forensic eminence. His 
progress in the acquisition of professional business was steady and 
rapid. 

Fortunate circumstances concurring a few years before his choice 
of Litchfield as the field of his professional labors, in the removal by 
promotion of two very distinguished practitioners at that Bar, opened 
the way to such a choice, and by like good fortune a similar event re- 
moved one of the two only remaining obstructions in that town to Ids 
full share in the best business as an advocate, the only business to 
which he aspired. As a reasoner Mr. Gould was forcible, lucid and 
logical : as a speaker Ids voice was very pleasant and his language 
pure, clear and always appropriate. He never aspired to high strains 
of impassioned eloquence, and rarely, if ever, addressed himself to the 
passions of the Court and Jury, but to their understanding only, and 
was a very able, pleasing and successful advocate. His argument was 
a fair map of the case, and one sometimes engaged against him, but 
feeling Ids superiority, observed, that he had rather have Gould 
against him in a case, than any other of any where equal powers, 
because he could perfectly understand his argument, and if susceptible 
of an answer could know how to apply it. In his practice at the Bat- 
he was always perfectly fair and honorable. Within some two or 
three years after Mr. Gould commenced practice, Mr. Reeve, the 
founder and until that time the sole instructor of the Litchfield Law 
School, accepted a scat upon the bench of the Superior Court. This 
Court made it necessary for him to give up the School, or to associate 
some one with him in its management, and to deliver lectures in his 
absence upon the circuits. The Judge selected Mr. Gould as that 
associate; and for a number of years they jointly conducted and re- 
ceived the profits of the School: and on the final retiring of Judge 
Reeve from any participation in the instruction of the School, Mr. 
Gould became its sole instructor and so continued until elevated to 
the bench of the Superior Court in the spring of 181G, when he in 
turn had to have recourse to temporary aid for the short time he re- 
mained on the bench. But a thorough political Revolution having 
taken place in this State, and a, new constitution formed which entire- 



2g Sketches of the litchfield bar. 

ly new modeled the courts of law, Mr. Gould took no further share! 
in public employments : and his health being greatly impaired, he 
never resumed practice at the Bar, but confined himself wholly to his 
School during the remainder of his life, as far as severe infirmities 
would permit. He died, as appears by the College catalogue, in 1 ;s3<s. 

In person Mr. Gould was very handsome. Of about medium 
heighth, or perhaps a little over ; but rather less in body and limbs 
than medium size. His complexion fair, with fine dark eyes and 
beautiful brown hair ; all his features good and in connection indica- 
tive of much intelligence and good nature, and his form for symmetry 
and gracefulness could hardly have been mended ; and in all respects. 
in body, mind and education, he may be fairly styled a finished man. 
In private and social intercourse he was highly pleasing, facetious 
and witty. 

Soon after his settlement in Litchfield he married the eldest 
daughter of the Hon. Uriah Tracy, so well knbwn for bis long and 
distinguished services in the Councils of the state and nation. 

Mrs. Gould in person and mind was a m wife for such a husband, 
and partook with him in the happiness of raising a very numerous 
and promising family of children. 

Judge Gould wrote and published a volume of Pleadings, which, 
together with his fame as an instructor, gave him a distinguished 
name amoua; the eminent jurists oi the country. 



NOAH BONNET BENEDICT. 

In further compliance with your late request. I now place at your 
disposal some account of the life, character and standing of another 
highly esteemed member of the Litchfield County Bar. 

The Hon. Noah Bennet Benedict was a native of Woodbury, in 
which lie resided during his whole life. He was the son of the Rev. 
Noah Benedict, long the pastor of the First Congregational Church 
in that town. Mr-. Benedict's early school education must have been 
correct and good, as its fruits invariably showed itself in after life. 
He graduated at Yale College in September, 1788, when a little short 



\'' ■ K BENNET BENEDICT'. 

of eighteen years of age. His legal studies commenced soon alter his 
graduation, which were, I believe, pursued principally f if not wholly, 
in the office of his brother-in-law, Nathaniel Smith, afterwards so 
highly distinguished as a jurist, which was near the residence of Mr. 
Benedict's father. As soon as he arrived to lawful ago Mr. Benedid 
came to the Bar, and for the remainder of his life, to wit : about thirty- 
nine years, it is believed he never failed to attend every regular ses- 
sion of the Courts holden at Litchfield : and though he never habitu- 
ally attended Courts in other counties, he occasionally did so for the 
purpose of arguing a particular case. During the long course of his 
practice Mr. Benedict had an ample share of business, and for the 
latter half of that period, lie was, especially in the Superior Court, the 
leading advocate, on one side or the other, in most of the trials either 
to the court or to the jury. His management of a trial was discreet, 
his arguments sound, sensible, and being aided by the well known and 
generally esteemed integrity of his character, had their due effect. He 
never attempted to play the orator or to attract attention by fine 
turned periods, but contented himself with plain reasoning, of which 
he was no indifferent master. 

At a very early period Mr. Benedict was a member of the legis- 
lature. But the political majority of the voters in Woodbury becom 
ing about this time and for long afterwards decidedly democratic, 
proved an effectual bar to his political promotion, as far as depended 
upon that town, but by the vote of the State at large he was elected 
in 1818 one of the twelve assistants, (as they were then styled, who 
composed the Upper House of the assembly,) and was re-elected the 
two following years ; but in the year 1818 an entire political revolu- 
tion took place in Connecticut, and Mr. Benedict shared the fate of 
almost every one who held any post of dignity or profit depending 
upon public sufferage at large in the State. He was subsequently 
many years later elected once or more to the Lower House. He was 
also for several years Judge of Probate for the District of Woodbury, 
an appointment then depending upon the legislature. Mr. Benedict 
was twice married, but left no living issue. He died in June or July, 
1831, at the age of sixty, or in his sixtieth year. 

In private life Mr. Benedict was entirely unassuming, and a very 
pleasing companion to all who could relish purity of moral character 
and conduct, which his whole life was an eminent example : his feeL 



:>y2 SKETCHES OF THE LITCHFIELD BAR, 

County Bar. and by his faithfulness and zeal in the management of it 
lie retained it for many years to his great satisfaction, for he was very 
fond of his profession, No man more thoroughly identified himself 
with the interests of his client, insomuch that he could hardly bring 
himself to doubt of the justice of his cause, however he might of the 
legal means of obtaining it ; hence his utmost exertions were sure to 
be put forth for the attainment of it. In untiring industry in the 
preparation of a cause for trial no man excelled him. He was an able, 
and when the nature of the case allowed of it, an eloquent advocate. 
Until some sixty years old he was in full practice, almost never being 
in any degree diverted from it by political aspirations. But repeated 
pneumoniae attacks of a threatening nature in the autumn of the year 
1832 admonished him of the danger of much public speaking, and in- 
duced him to retire from the Bar as soon as it could conveniently be 
done. While in practice, his untiring diligence in the preparation of 
his causes for trial, the learning, wit and force of reasoning was so 
satisfactory to his numerous clients, that it was not remembered that 
any one who once employed him ever forsook him when in after time 
he had occasion for legal advice. 

After the close of his practice of law, and indeed long before 
that event. Mr. Bacon paid much attention to pecuniary affairs, and 
his skill and judgement in the management, led to his appointment as 
president of the branch of the Phoenix Bank located at Litchfield, 
which he held for a number of years. But his cautious policy in the 
management of it proved unsatisfactory to some of the stockholders, 
but more particularly with the managers at head quarters. 

As a man, a mere private individual, Mr. Bacon will be agreed 
by all who ever knew him to have been a very peculiar man, both in 
appearance and in manner, Hp was full six feet two inches high ; 
well formed for appearance ; neither too fleshy nor too spare ; and 
his inexhaustible fund of pleasant wit, judiciously used, made him an 
agreeable companion to both sexes and all ages : and having in him. 
self an%ncommon elasticity of spirits he was fitted to enjoy life and 
£o impart to others its enjoyment in an eminent degree. On many 
accounts, and indeed on most accounts, Mr. Bacon may be said to be 
a fortunate man, but on others, had it not been for his peculiar buoy- 
ancy of spirits, a very unfortunate man. 

In March, 1807, he married Miss Lucretia Campion the only 



ELISHA STERLING. 33 

daughter of the Hon. Epaphroditus Champion, of East Haddam, who 
still survives him ; and never was a man through a long married life 
of half a century, more happy in the conjugal connection. This mar- 
riage was blessed by the birth of three sons of uncommon promise, but 
all of them were cut down in early manhood : not, however, until each 
had given decided proof of natural and acquired capacity. Three 
daughters were also the fruit of that marriage, but all died in early 
infancy. 

Quite a number of years since, Mr. Bacon disposed of his proper- 
ty in Litchfield and removed to New Haven, where he spent the re- 
mainder of his long and useful life, and died in the full possession of 
his mental faculties when but two days short of eighty-six years of age. 
No one ever questioned his integrity. He was a professor of religion, 
and is believed to have lived in accordance with his profession. He 
died in the possession of an ample estate, in a great degree the fruit 
of his discreet management, and out of which, it is but justice to his 
memory to state, he made a donation to Yale College of ten thousand 
dollars. 



ELISHA STERLING. 

Gen. Elisha Sterling of Salisbury, who was for a long time a 
very respectable member of the Litchfield County Bar, was a native 
of Lyme in this State, where he received his training and early edu- 
cation, until he became a member of Yale College, of the class which 
graduated in September, 1787 ; and that he sustained a good standing 
in it is evinced by his having an honorary share in its commencement 
exercises. Immediately alter his graduation he assumed the charge 
of an academy, then recently established in Sharon ; and during the 
two years while it was under his management and tuition, it became 
very thoroughly established and very extensively and popularly known. 
While at the head of the academy he pursued the study of Law, and 
was admitted to the Bar in 1789 or 1790, and immediately opened an 
office for the practice of his profession in Salisbury, where he continu- 
ed to reside during the remainder of his life. He was very fortunate 



T; L SKETCHES OF THE LITCHFIELD BAR. 

in his place of settlement, and soon found himself engaged in lucrative 
practice, which lie pursued with much industry for a long time ; and 
it is believed that very few lawyers have by the mere practice of their 
profession in Connecticut acquired a larger property than he did. He 
was at an early period by the County Court appointed the Attornej 
for the State in that County, and by them (to whom alone the right 
of that appointment then pertained.) annually reappointed for manj 
years, and until a political change in a majority of that Court led to 
a change in the attorneyship. The propriety of his management as a 
public prosecutor was never questioned even by his political opponents. 
As a mere advocate he did not stand at the head of such practice, but 
did a respectable share of it. and stood high in the secondary rank ; 
and in the entire amount of business, in point of profit, few equaled, 
and perhaps none surpassed him. In addition to the office of State's 
Attorney, he for a long time held the office of Judge of Probate for 
the district of Sharon— an office then depending upon the annual ap- 
pointment of the legislature, and until, for a like cause above mention- 
ed, he was required to give place to another, of different political 
principles from his own ; and the latter office he held two or three 
years after he ceased to be, of the then, healthy political faith. He 
was very often a representative to the General Assembly from Salis- 
bury when the political standing of the town would allow of such a 
choice, and was a major-general of the militia. At a somewhat ear- 
lier period he married a daughter of the Hon. John Canfield, deceas- 
ed, of Sharon, who for a long time was a distinguished member of the 
Bar of Litchfield County in former times ; and by that marriage he 
became the father of a somewhat numerous family, nearly all of whom 
were sons. They were all young men of promise, and on entering 
into business were well endowed by their father, and it is believed 
were respectable and prosperous in their several vocations. Gen. 
Sterling somewhat late in life married the widow of the Rev. Dr. 
John Elliott, who survived him. Through life Gen. Sterling enjoyed 
a good state of health, and died when over seventy years of age, in 
the year 1836, of a sudden illness occasioned by a slight wound in the 
leg, too much neglected. He was above medium size, of a light com- 
plexion and good personal appearance, and his moral and religious 
habits unimpeachable. 



35 
JABEZ W. HUNTINGTON. 

In compliance with former requests and of a recent intimation 
Of my own, I now transmit you a brief sketch of the life and character 
of the Hon. Jabez W. Huntington, son of the late Gen. Zachariah 

Huntington of Norwich, and grandson of the Hon. Jabez Huntington 
of that place, the assistant' and associate of the first Gov. Trumbull, 
who was born in Norwich in the year 1787 or 1788. He received 
his early training and instruction in his native town, which after 
times evinced to be accurate and good. He became a member of 
Yale College in September, 1802 and graduated in September, 1806, 
with the reputation of a good scholar. Soon after his graduation he 
became a teacher in an academic school under the government of its 
founder, Esquire Morris of Litchfield South Farms, as then called, 
now the town of Morris, named after the founder of said school. 
After about a year thus employed, Mr. Huntington entered Judge 
Keeve's Law School, in which he continued a diligent student uutil 
admitted to the Bar in Litchfield County, of which he soon showed 
himself to be a worthy member, and in due time a distinguished one ; 
he having commenced the practice of his profession in Litchfield, and 
there continued it. until its final termination by an office conferred 
upon hiin incompatible with its further pursuit. In practice, his whole 
aim and ambition was to become an advocate, and had no desire to 
obtain any share of collecting business, though in many hands not 
less lucrative ; and as he was always ready to aid the less ambitious 
of speaking, he early acquired a very considerable share of the por- 
tion of practice of which he was ambitious and which was improving 
to him. His forte as an advocate was in detecting error in declara- 
tions and other parts of pleadings, and in a lucid manner of pointing 
them out. Upon the whole he was as an advocate clear and accurate, 
rather than peculiar for the gracefulness of manner or refinement of 
diction, though his manner was by no means disgusting, and his lan- 
guage entirely free from any approach to vulgarity. His manners 
were pleasing and popular, and he repeatedly represented Litchfield 
in the General Assembly and distinguished himself there. He wa-< 
elected to the 21st Congress, and reelected to the 22cl and 23d Con- 
gress ; and near the expiration of the last of his Congressional career 
he was chosen a Judge of the Superior Court, and held that office un- 



36 SKETCHES OF THE LITCHFIELD BAR, 

til 1840, when being chosen a senator of the United States he resign-' 
ed the Judgeship and accepted the latter appointment, and continued 
to hold it by virtue of a second appointment until his death in 1847. 
In all which stations he performed the duties thereof with honor to 
himself and to the entire satisfaction of the public. His moral char- 
acter was irreproachable ; a professor of religion and an observer of 
its precepts. Late in life he was married, but it is believed left no 
issue. Soon after election to Congress he removed to his native town 
and died there. 



PHINEAS M IX JIM 

Phinsas Miner, a very respectable and somewhat eminent mem 
ber of the Litchfield Canity Bar, was a native of Winchester in that 
county, and there, and in that region, as far as by the writer hereof 
known, received his entire training and education in all respects. At 
an early period in life he commenced the practice of law in the place 
of his birth, in the society of Winsted, as is believed, a place of a 
great deal of active manufacturing business arid furnishing an ample 
share of employment for gentlemen of the legal profession, of which 
Mr. Miner soon acquired an ample share, and at no distant period, an 
engrossing one. with which he appeared in court from term to term 
until he felt warranted in tile expectation of drawing after him an 
engagement in all the disputable cases from that fruitful quarter; 
when he removed to Litchfield ami was much employed as an advoeate 
for a number of years, and until his health rather prematurely failed, 
and he became the victim of great mental and bodily suffering, until 
relieved hy death before reaching the ordinary period at which old 
age begins to make its effects much percept i I tie in the human frame. 
As an advocate Mr. Miner was ardent, impassioned and fluent, but 
in his apparent great ambition to be eloquent he often made use of 
figures of speech which a more chastened and correct training in youth 
would have taught him to avoid, and less wounding to an ear of taste, 
but the fault apparent to all, was the extreme prolixity of his argu- 
ments ; but these faults notwithstanding, Mr. Miner was a respectable 
and able advocate. 



LEMAN CHURCH. ft] 

Before his removal to Litchfield Mr. Miner was an early and 
frequent member of the legislature from his native town and after his 
removal there, a member of the state senate for the fifteenth district) 
and was also elected to fill a vacancy in the second session of the 
twenty-third Congress. 

Mr. Miner was twice married, but it is believed, left no issue, but 
of this the writer is uncertain. He led a strictly moral life and was 
justly esteemed a good man: 



LEMAN CHURCH. 

One more attempt to comply with your repeated requests. Le- 
mah Church, a late member of the Litchfield County Bar, was a na- 
tive of Salisbury in this county, a son of an opulent farmer of that 
town, and in it, it is supposed, he received his education, both scholas- 
tic and professional ; the latter in the office of his half-brother, Sam- 
uel Church, afterwards a Judge of the Superior Court, and finally 
Chief Justice of the same ; and after his admission to the bar ho 
"opened an office in North Canaan, where he resided during the re 
bainder of his life. Mr. Church was successful in acquiring at an 
early period a promising share of professional business, which steadily 
increased, until by the middle of professional life he occupied a stand 
among the leading advocates at the bar • and towards the close of 
life there was scarce a cause, especially in the higher Courts, of con- 
siderable importance discussed, in which he was not engaged, 

In September, 1833, Mr. Church was appointed by the Court, 
State's Attorney, as successor to his brother Samuel, on the latter's 
elevation to the bench of the Superior Court, and held that office by 
annual re-appointments until September term, 1838, when by a politi- 
cal change in the court he was required to yield the place to another ; 
it is believed, however, that he afterwards for a time, re-occupied that 
place, but not positively recollected. 

As a speaker he was cool, unimpassioned and ingenious ; he never 
'attempted to affect the passions of those he addressed, and being 
destitute of passion himself, was consequently incapable of moving the 



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